Advent 11: All is Calm

Typically, the month of December is anything but calm. Each one of us is prone to joining the chorus echoing that tired and pathetic sentiment as if we have no control over our lives: "It's such a busy time of year!" I'm sick of hearing it, sick of saying it.

And obviously, this Christmas season, much like the last one for entirely different reasons, has been nothing short of completely exhausting for us.

But that ends for a moment on the 25th. I love the fact that the banks close early today, and everything is closed on Christmas Day. Even the grocery stores! And even some of the blogs or news sites I frequent warn their readers of the impending break. While E and I really should be continuing to run around our house, cleaning and organizing and packing and what-have-you, we'll be taking our own break tomorrow too.

Everything gets put on hold for this day. Everyone pauses with a great exhale of relief. Rest. All is calm.

Do we know why?

Why is it that, though people reject the supposed "true meaning" of Christmas, this day still holds some sort of permanent sway in society? It's as if it's almost sacred or something. Sure, we can skip saying Merry Christmas, but we'll still revere the day.

Maybe it's for the family, maybe it's just the vacation, maybe it's sentimental traditions, maybe it's the new stuff we'll be getting. But I love that when you dig deeper into each one of those on-the-surface-reasons, there's something greater to be found. Fingerprints to be traced.

Familial bonds, the need for rest, the meaning-creating, the satisfying good gifts, all having their source in a Father who made us in his image, then wants to adopt us, bringing us back into his loving family, through the preposterous act of sending the Glory of the One and Only into our neighborhood as flesh and blood.

Whether you want to believe the billboards declaring that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" or not, your actions make it seem that he really just might be, regardless of your acknowledgment or agreement or approval.